You get home from work, and get settled in. You take a moment to check your smart phone to see what your friends have been up to lately on Facebook or Instagram. You sit down at the TV, turn it on, and start watching the next episode of your show, on demand. You get a text message from your boss, asking for an email you swore you had sent before you left for the day. One of the kids is complaining because Netflix isn’t working on their tablet. You get out your company laptop to check for the email, while your kids loudly explain how they don’t have anything to do without being able to get to Youtube or Netflix. You see the email on your laptop, but it wasn’t sent. You try in vain to send it, but your laptop refuses to connect to the internet. Your network is down. Again.

So you love your new big screen television. Your sound system is amazing. But after the rather hefty bill is paid, it doesn’t bring that theater feeling back home as much as you thought it would. Was there some piece of equipment that was missed? Did the technician forget to sprinkle some magic dust around the room? Or is there something else going on here that is taking some of the “shiny” out of your shiny new home theater system? The problem may be all around, and you probably don’t even know it. It’s the room itself.

Your home greets you by name as you enter through the garage door in the evening. Some unseen hand begins lighting your way from the garage to the kitchen, politely turning them off after you have left the room. You ask your home to begin drawing a bath for you in your master bathroom, as you’ve had a long day. You reach into the fridge to pull out your evening drink of choice when you get an alert on your phone notifying you that your stock of said drink is running low. It then asks if you would like it added to your shopping list for your next trip to the market. You tap yes on your phone, head up to the bathroom, where the tub is already half full of water at the perfect temperature. You ask your house to dim the bathroom lights and turn on some relaxing music while you finish preparing.

All of this sounds like some science fiction wizardry, or some sort of fantastical super-intelligent artificial personal assistant from a big budget movie with an amazing British accent. But no, this isn’t some far flung dream of the future. This is now. Welcome, true believer, to the birth of the truly smart home.

You’re walking through the Television section of your preferred electronics retailer, and you see two TVs side by side. They are the exact same size, even the same brand, and both are Ultra-High Definition TVs. But one single letter really sets them apart…as does a several hundred-dollar price tag. What’s the big to-do about OLED that has enthusiasts in a tizzy, and retailers throwing around that buzzword like it’s the best thing since Netflix? Let’s look under the hood and figure out what’s so great about OLED.